I decided I would do brief bio’s of the County Commissioners, Eye On Miami style. Some of you might not know a lot about County Commissioners, but you should! So I will do every Commissioner and here is District 1. First and foremost Barbara Jordan is a member of the unreformable majority of the County Commission. The unreformable majority is a label coined by Gimleteye, comprised of the 8 Commissioners that always vote as a block in favor of bad land-use issues or developments. Barbara Jordan said her total assets were $2,136,856 in 2006, her net worth was $1,881,177. In 2007 she said her net worth was $1,486,413. She says she has a Quadraplex in Key West worth $1,072,254 (she has a $380,00 loan on it). Her income in 2006: was $47,510 from the County, she also gets $130,144 of Florida Retirement (taxpayer paid pension) and $37,802 in Social Security. In 2007 she shows an income of $325,00 from one retirement account and $80,153 from another. Not bad, Barbara Jordan brings in almost a half a million in income in 2007 and a quarter of a million a year 2006. She is paying a mortgage on a rental property in Irving Texas but she doesn’t appear to claim any rental income for 2006. In 2007 she declared $5,600 rent.
There is nothing in current clerk records of note on her, she did do a Quit Claim Deed in 2006 that was curiously registered in 2007. Jordan was an Assistant County Manager at one time.
Barbara Jordan is known for her relatives. She has a sister Sandy Walker, in the photograph above. Sandy was an Aide to Commissioner Moss at one point then she was a lobbyist. Then she was arrested. She puts out a newspaper called the Gospel Truth. Barbara’s brother is Florida City Mayor for Life Otis Wallace. He has been governing about 80 years.
Little facts: Barbara Jordan sees herself as the housing guru. She addresses her brother as: Mr. Mayor. Although her sister Sandy was a lobbyist for Lennar’s Florida City Development of Regional Impact a few years back, Barbara claims they never discussed it. Although her brother was Mayor and her sister was the lobbyist, Jordan saw no conflict with voting on the issue.
Barbara used $20,000 of her discretionary funds (our tax dollars) in 2005-2006 for sponsorship for Barrington Irving's Flight around the world. She used another $15,750 for the Contractors Resource Center.
I hope you can add to my outline.
11 comments:
How do you get to a net worth of $2.1 million as an assistant county manager? Details, please.
I looked again and that info was on an attachment. The attachment was not sent with the file. Will try to get it.
Anon.
When someone has worked for many years and stayed in the same house accumulating equity and assets, such as stocks, bonds, retirement annuities, other properties, etc... a net worth of $2 million for someone in their 60s is pretty normal, even for a government employee. I think gimleteye, as a former banker, could subtantiate that.
I don't have any problem with her giving money to Barrington Irving, the young guy who was the first African American and youngest to circle the globe solo in a plane.
That $$ had to go somewhere, and Barrington Irving is a great speaker and instructor to everyone, but especially inner-city youth.
I heard him speak at an American Airlines African-American employee resource group a few years ago before his famous flight -- and was completely impressed.
Although not a young Overtown kid, (but a middle-aged white male airline worker), I still followed Irving's journey with great interest. He's done a lot of mentoring since he's been back.
That was $20K well spent.
Glad to hear it.
How can it not be a conflict of interest to vote on an issue that both your sister and brother have a stake in? How did she get away with that?
Because our ethics legislation sucks. They say only parents (maybe wife too).
Lennar's Seijas? President of the LBA? No onder Cancela has become a Lennar lobbyist. This town is too much! And how is Lennar's Parkland doing? LOL
Its all about money?
And not in the public interest?
So its the same as rampages the public trust in Surfside Florida these days under its new "leadership? Is that something like a bridge to nowhere, or is it just like walking the plank - for the taxpayers that is? Blogs about Surfside Florida and Miami Dade County Florida and plenty of places carry more real info than is "published"
March 11
BARBARA JORDAN, District 1 commissioner, Miami-Dade County, Miami
County handles transit tax with leadership
What The Miami Herald called a betrayal, the people of Miami-Dade County may choose to call leadership and taking responsibility (The final betrayal on the transit tax, March 5, Opinion). For the county to continue paying for critical transit services under a flawed funding scheme is unrealistic and just plain wrong.
When voters approved a half-cent sales-tax increase to fund improvements to the transit system in 2002, neither the current mayor, county manager or transit director were in office. It has become painfully apparent that all of the promises made at that time by the People's Transportation Plan cannot now be delivered. Maybe they never could.
It is time now to clean up the mess and make hard decisions that will provide the most effective and efficient service with the funds available.
The county's transit system gets only 21 percent of its budget from user fares and fees. No transit system in the United States is fully funded by its riders. The Miami-Dade Transit system costs about $400 million a year. About $140 million of those funds are provided by the People's Transportation Plan (PTP).
In 2002 voters were promised that the new tax funds would be used for new services. In our best effort to fulfill that promise, the county has chosen to cut services that were begun before the tax while we worked to implement new services. That has not always been a bad thing. For example, in 2002 there were 26 million revenue bus miles traveled while in 2008 there were 32.6 miles traveled.
Unfortunately, the current economic realities, along with good business practices, require that the transit system continue to be ''right-sized.'' We must reduce revenue bus miles to 30.5 million, a decrease of 2.1 million revenue miles. In recent years, Miami-Dade Transit has worked to reduce or modify services to cut costs while holding harmless the new services provided by the PTP funds. We can no longer do it.
Members of the public who depend upon public buses, trains and other transit services must remain our top priority. In addition, the need to reduce traffic congestion, enhance transportation efficiency and improve the quality of life for all of our residents and visitors are critical considerations.
Under the previous two-tiered funding scheme, we were forced to cut highly productive bus routes in favor of keeping less productive new routes. In the coming year, for example, six productive routes were proposed for elimination that would have resulted in more than 3,000 riders a day losing service. Now, because the Transit Department can make changes on old and new routes alike, some routes serving the same areas will travel less frequently or be modified, and the changes will impact only about 150 riders a day.
Rather than betraying the public trust, the majority of County Commission members have chosen tough and pragmatic leadership. Unfortunately, that sometimes requires that we tell our residents bad news. It is time now to move forward so we may address the other significant challenges that lie ahead for our transit system.
-Barf-
A reader asked about her net worth...I added it to article.
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